


Four Layers of Complicated

by TrashFan



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Angst, Coming Out, Four parts, Hurt/Comfort, Iron Dad, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Opening Up, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker Whump, Peter's bf problems, Peter's mysterious injuries, Protective Tony Stark, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Whump, spider son
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-03
Updated: 2019-03-05
Packaged: 2019-10-21 10:28:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17641058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrashFan/pseuds/TrashFan
Summary: Peter has been acting weird recently, which is fine. Tony accidentally sees some texts Pete's friends sent telling him to open up, which is a little more worrying, but also fine. Kids have secrets. But when the boy comes into the lab with a bruise unrelated to Spiderman-ing, Tony is determined to get Peter to open up to him. Even if it takes a while.





	1. First Layer

The first several times Tony heard the vibrating, he ignored it. The kid had left his phone on the work table when he’d left to grab a snack and it was going off -- standard stuff around the lab. But then it buzzed again. And again. And again. It was irregular, so it wasn’t a call, but it was persistent enough that it was breaking Tony’s concentration on his work, so he eventually laid his tools down with a sigh. Underoos played with his cell during breaks and every once in a while during work, but he wasn’t one of those kids that was married to his device -- so this wasn’t something the inventor had had to deal with before. Tony paced over to the abandoned phone and picked it up, pressing a few buttons on the side. He was good with technology, but the model that Peter had picked had an idiotic interface that made no inherent sense and was clunky at best. Tony tried to brush off his old resentment about the kid switching off of StarkPhones and swore as the cell lit up and shook in his hand again. He tried swiping away the notifications, but new ones kept coming in.

 

_ Ned Leeds has sent an image _

 

_ Ned Leeds has sent an image _

 

_ Ned Leeds has sent an image _

 

_ MJ Jones: I know ned’s spamming u rn but memes aren’t… _

 

_ MJ Jones: I get im not an emotions person but it… _

 

_ Ned Leeds has sent an image _

 

_ MJ Jones: If you’re so stressed about it, just tell him the Big Secret and… _

 

_ MJ Jones: the guy’s smart, I bet he can tell you’re hurting. Rip the band-aid… _

 

_ Ned Leeds has sent an image _

 

_ Ned Leeds: are these cheering you up at all dude? I’m trying my best but… _

 

_ MJ Jones: Do what you want tho, idc. Peace. _

 

_ Ned Leeds: are you sure you’re like, okay? _

 

Tony had just finished dismissing the message previews when he heard a metallic crunch. He whipped around to see Peter standing a few feet in front of the lab’s door, soda can collapsed in a vice grip with the drink spilling out over Peter’s paper-white fist and onto the floor.

“What are you doing with my phone?” the kid’s voice was a full octave higher than it normally was.

“I’m just trying to get it to stop shrieking at me.”

Peter exploded across the room and ripped the phone from his boss’s hand. “What did you read?”

“Woah, relax kiddo,” Tony lifted his hands by his shoulders in a show of non-agression. “Nothing on purpose. Just some message previews, it’s all good.”

The teen’s face drained of color. “What did you see?”

Tony ran a hand through his hair. He hadn’t seen anything, not really. But he considered toning down the truth even more, bullshitting him about it only being image notifications from Ned. He wanted to calm the panic that was clear in Peter’s face, but he also wanted the kid to talk to him. He wasn’t sure if he was the “smart guy” that “could tell he’s hurting,” but Tony had noticed less and less idle blabbering from his intern lately. 

Pete’s eyes narrowed. “ _ What did you see?” _

“Really, it was nothing. Your little friends kept talking to you about opening up and emotions and BS, but that’s all. I swear to you.”

“If you’re lying to me…”

“Calm down Underoos, I’m not.”

Peter slowly moved back to his work station and started typing furiously into his phone, and Tony turned to the tedious calibrations he was working on. The pair went on like that for a while before the silence was interrupted again.

“Is it anything I need to be worried about?”

“Hmm?”

“I saw a text about a Big Secret, is it anything I should be aware of?”

Peter swore under his breath. “It’s just dumb teen stuff Mr. Stark, it’s okay.”

Tony nodded. “Well good. But if it becomes more than that --”

“It’s really not a big deal. It’s stupid and complicated and has like four separate layers, so don’t worry about it.”

There was a beat of quiet. “Okay. Now come over here and help me with this, I need your lady fingers.”

  
  
  


When the billionaire first sought out the spiderling, he really did intend it to be a one-off thing to take down the Cap, and even when they kept in contact, he hadn’t intended  _ this  _ to happen. At the beginning the kid was just that -- a kid that was in his business more than he should be and occasionally shot a web at the right time. And then somewhere along the way “can I take Karen in for some updates” became “c’mon over kid, I need a second pair of hands” which became weekly work days together. Pepper was constantly making fun of him for having a “spider-son,” but it definitely wasn’t like that. Tony only cared about Peter in his capacity as a useful intern that could make his life easier. The reason the high schooler was invited over so often was because Tony wanted to train him up to do all the boring grunt work. Which is why for three weeks, he didn’t bring up the messages he’d seen. And during those three weeks, the man definitely didn’t keep a closer eye on his assistant's increasingly subdued behavior and distracted affect. And Tony definitely didn’t check in on Karen twice a day to make sure she hadn’t noticed anything physically off. No, because that would mean there was some truth in Pepper’s jokes, and Tony Stark was absolutely not going soft for the boy.

When almost a month after the phone incident Peter walked into the lab with a fresh bruise across his cheek, Tony had to focus on his breathing in order to not immediately lose his shit.

“Woah, Pete! What happened?”

“Life as usual on patrol sir, it’s fine.”

The older man felt his heart sink. “Seeing as Karen’s check-in this morning reported no facial injuries, I have a hard time believing that.”

“You check in on my suit?” Peter asked, his mouth agape.

“It’s a good thing I do, because it looks like you’re lying to me.”

The boy slid his backpack off his shoulder and onto the floor before walking forward and lowering himself onto a stool. He rubbed at his forehead. “It’s really nothing Mr. Stark, I swear.”

Tony took a step forward and gently brushed his hand over the angry purple splotch. “With your healing factor, this can’t be old. Two, three hours?”

Peter shrugged, looking down. “Yeah, I guess.”

“What happened, kid?”

“Nothing.”

“I guess I’m glad you aren’t feeding me bullshit lies, but I think we can try for better than ‘nothing.’”

“It’s completely fine Mr. Stark, I promise this isn’t going to be an issue again.”

Tony sighed. “Does this have to do with the big secret your friends were texting you about?”

The teen just shrugged.

“Are you safe at home, Pete? Does May have a new boyfriend, or is May herself --”

“What? Absolutely not! I swear, it’s nothing like that.”

“Well when you don’t give me anything to work off of, I have to make guesses. If it  _ is _ something at home, you know there’s always an extra bed for you here.”

Peter smiled and rolled his eyes. “Thank you, but it’s not that. May is fantastic and single as ever.”

“How Aunt Hottie has ever been single is still a mystery to me,” Tony pushed the kid’s shoulder gently. “but if it’s not at home and it’s not as Spiderman, it’s gotta be school, right?”

Silence.

“Is it bullying? Is it that Flash kid?”

Peter tilted his head back and groaned. “No, it’s not Flash. But this really isn’t a big deal. It’s dumb high school stuff and it’s super complicated and I swear everything’s okay.”

Tony huffed. “I’m not gonna drop this. Everyone that gives you shiners is supposed to be dead or in jail. Can you please just get this over with and get it off your chest?”

The teen stood up and began pacing a long path back and forth. Tony had to work to control his facial expression. “There are like four different levels to this and it’s confusing and hard to explain and you shouldn’t have to worry about it.”

“News flash Underoos, I’m already worried.”

“But it’s more than that,” he muttered under his breath. “I don’t think I can tell you. I don’t think I’m ready to tell you.”

The adult nodded. However much he needed to know know what was going on, he understood not wanting to open up to someone. He thought for a moment. “You said there are four different levels to what’s going on. If you can promise me that you’re genuinely safe, maybe you could just tell me level one for now.”

Peter opened his mouth before closing it again. His pacing slowed. “I don’t know. Maybe? No. It’s hard.”

“As long as you didn’t kill a baby in cold blood, I’m not gonna be upset with you Underoos. Just get it off your chest.”

The boy paused a minute before quickly stalking back to his stool and plopping down. He put his elbows up onto the table and raked his fingers through his hair. “Jesus, I can’t believe I’m doing this.”

Tony slowly walked over to the next seat and lowered himself into it. “You’re really starting to scare me kid. What’s going on?”

Peter closed his eyes and paused for a long time. Eventually he spoke. “I like guys.”

Tony furrowed his eyebrows. “What do you mean?”

“Like, romantically. The way I’m supposed to like girls”

“Oh.  _ Oh. _ ” From all the anticipation, the billionaire had been preparing himself for involvement in organized crime or hard drugs. “Pete. Look at me. Hey, look at me.”

Peter pried his eyes open and turned to his mentor.

“It’s okay. That’s fine, you’re fine. I’m not gonna pretend that this was even on my radar, but it’s your life. You’re still a damn good assistant, I’m not gonna regulate your love life. This doesn’t change anything.”

The teen let out a shaky breath and nodded slowly. “Cool,” he croaked.

“Is that what this is all about? Some sexual awakening?”

“Oh my  _ god _ Mr. Stark, never say ‘sexual awakening’ again. Ever,” he laughed while turning red.

“Fair. But that doesn’t exactly explain the bruise. Are people at school giving you shit for it?”

Peter smirked. “Nope, you asked for level one. You got level one, end of conversation.”

Tony groaned. “C’mon, we were just getting somewhere. I reacted all cool and everything. I was accepting without making it a huge thing, I’m listening, I’m nailing this whole emotional thing if I do say so myself.”

The boy smiled. “That wasn’t part of the deal. I told you about the first part of this, we get to move on.”

Tony wanted to push, he needed to know what sort of fight the kid had gotten into, but he didn’t want to press his luck. He reached over and ruffled the curly brown hair in front of him. “Fine, but I get part two next time, okay?”

“Maybe.”

The two sighed nearly in unison. “You promise you’re safe? Do we need to brush up on non-aggressive self-defense that won’t blow your identity?”

“Everything’s fine Mr. Stark, I’m a big boy. I swear.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “Yeah yeah. Now get back to work. I’m not paying you to sit around chatting.”

“You’re not paying me at all!”

“And this is why.”

Despite the smile, the man was as worried as ever about his intern. But at least they were getting somewhere.


	2. Second Layer

The next time the two saw each other they didn’t actually get the chance to talk about the Big Secret like Tony’d wanted to, seeing as it was a general Avengers meeting about updates to the process of turning criminals over to the police. In all honesty Spiderman didn’t really need to be at these types of board meetings -- helping little old ladies with flat tires and preventing tourists from getting ripped off wasn’t exactly police business. But the kid always showed up with a light in his eyes and asked a million questions, and no one on the team had the heart to shush him or take him off the email list. To be fair, some of the information had helped the spiderling in some of his bigger incidents, so it didn’t hurt to have him there.

This time, however, there was no light in the kid’s eyes. In fact, Peter didn’t speak up the entire time. Tony noticed how halfway through the unusually efficient meeting the other Avengers started to sneak glances at the boy and shoot Tony questioning looks. For his part, Pete just stared out the window and fiddled with a loose thread at the end of his shirt sleeve. When everything was said and done, Tony got up to talk to the kid, but Steve blocked his path and began to ask a question. By the time the inventor was able to push past him Peter had disappeared.

It was another two weeks until they got together again. Peter had cancelled their work days three separate times, and if he’d have done it a fourth Tony would’ve shown up at May’s door and knocked his way through to the kid. In the end that wasn’t necessary, but when Tony watched the boy trudge into the lab with slumped shoulders and downcast eyes, the billionaire wondered if he shouldn’t have made a home visit earlier.

“Hey there Underoos, how you doing?” he asked, making sure not to look up or stop tinkering. Playing it casual, right?

“Good, you?” Pete mumbled.

“I’m okay. A lot better than you, ya mope.”

“Sorry Mr. Stark.”

“No, that isn’t,” Tony sighed. “That’s not what I meant. I’m just saying you’re a terrible liar. What’s on your mind?”

“Just school stuff.”

“Academic school stuff or  _ I’ve-got-a-four-tiered-maze-of-secrets  _ school stuff?”

Peter just shrugged.

“Okay, so it’s the second one. Do I get to hear the next part of this jumble you’re in?”

Without saying anything the teen carefully hung up his backpack on a wall hook, took his seldom-used work shirt out of a closet and slid it on carefully before making his way over to a countertop.

“I don’t really wanna have to pry this out of you,” Tony tried again

“Then don’t.”

The man sighed and rubbed his forehead. Had Parker always been this difficult? “If I ask you questions, do you promise not to lie to me?”

Peter visibly chewed on his upper lip for a moment. “We’ll see.”

Well, if that was the best he was gonna get. “Are you safe?”

He nodded.

“Are those two friends of yours still by your side?”

Peter smiled. “Yeah, absolutely.”

“Good, I’m not above sending Iron Man to talk sense into high schoolers.”

“Oh god, if you did that I’d kill you myself,” Peter mumbled through a half-smile. Tony was surprised at the flood of emotion that one quip caused. He just wanted everything to be okay for his intern.

“Don’t forget that Karen is just an extension of Friday and I could shut you down whenever I pleased.”

“Ned and I already hacked the suit once.”

Tony gave a soft smile. “A fluke that I’ve made sure you’ll never be able to do again.”

“Maybe.”

The older man ran his hand through his hair and nodded. “Does whatever’s going on have to do with the secret you told me last time?”

Peter hesitated. “Yes, it builds off it.”

“Is it about a guy you’re interested in?”

There was no response for a long moment as the kid stared down at his wringing hands. “I told you it’s dumb high school stuff. It’s not important.”

The billionaire paused to think over how to phrase his thoughts. “Just because something isn’t life or death doesn’t mean it’s not important. Hell I was in school once, I remember how big everything seemed. And it’s obviously bugging you, so it’s not dumb.”

The teen closed his eyes and reopened them slowly. “Mr. Stark, when did you turn into such a big softie?”

“ _ Pfft _ , I just want my intern working at full capacity. This is about efficiency and nothing more.” Tony shot a wink to drive home the idea he was joking, which Peter just rolled his eyes at. “Does this boy feel the same way?”

“Yeah.”

That wasn’t the answer Tony had been expecting, and he threw his hands up in surprise. “Excellent! I fail to see the problem! Go get ‘im!”

“You don’t understand, it’s not that easy.”

He paused, letting the excited expression melt off his face. “That’s fair. Explain it to me then, help me understand.”

Peter sighed and slumped. “It’s just like, he doesn’t...and I don’t… and school is school, and it’s,” he ran a hand through his hair, “it’s hard because people are like, I dunno, you know?”

Tony had to swallow the chuckle rising in his throat at the kid’s phrasing. “Seeing as you won’t finish a sentence, I don’t know. Are you saying you’re worried that people will judge you?”

“ _ He  _ is,” he muttered with a sharp edge to his tone.

“Oh kid, that’s rough.”

Pete swallowed. “Are you really sure you want to hear this?”

Tony faintly recognized that a year ago he answer would have been a resounding  _ no.  _ It should still be a no if their relationship was as professional as he claimed it to be -- but he pushed those thoughts aside. “Hit me. What’s up?”

After all the question dodging and vague answers and hesitation, it seemed like the flood gates had finally opened. “When we hang out it just feels right, you know? We don’t even talk, we don’t even do anything like, real. We just sorta hold hands and relax. Which is super dumb and makes me sound like a 12 year old, but it also makes me feel kind of full? I don’t know. But when we see each other in school he acts like he doesn’t know me. I get that he doesn’t want to go public, which is fine with me. But he can’t even say hi? He can’t even make eye contact with me? It makes me feel like a secret. It makes me feel  _ dirty _ .”

“Oh kid…”

Peter kept going, eyes pointed down at his rapidly gesticulating hands. “And I really like spending time with him, I do. But sometimes I wonder if I’m just with him because it’s my only option. And that sounds terrible, because I like him. But maybe I’m just into the idea of being into someone, you know? I don’t wanna settle just because someone’s interested in me. So it’s like, do I want to be with Riley, or do I just not want to feel alone anymore?” He gasped in a breath after ranting continuously for so long.

The older man didn’t have the faintest idea of what to do, and he knew if he tried to BS it, the kid would sense it. “That’s shit Pete. That’s a shitty situation and it sucks that you’re in it.”

He finally let himself look up. “Thanks Mr. Stark.”

Tony racked his brain for something to say before settling on the truth. “I wish there were something I could do to help you.”

“ ‘s okay. You didn’t sign up to be the sounding board for the problems of a queer fifteen year old.”

“I signed up to have you as my assistant and everyone’s lives get complicated at some point. Don’t worry about it.”

Peter bit his lip, opened his mouth, and then closed it again. After a long pause, he eventually said, “I don’t think the new web formula is working out. I think it’s clogging the shooters.”

Tony suppressed a laugh at the not so subtle subject change. If he had things his way he’d already know the full extent of what was going on at the kid’s school, but he knew the only way to do this was slowly. The Starks had never exactly been known for their solid support systems, and god damn if Tony was going to let that continue. He sighed.

“ ‘kay Pete, show me the problem.”


	3. Third Layer

After the second heart-to-heart in the lab, Peter seemed more and more like himself each time Tony saw him. The very next meeting when the kid walked in with his shoulders a little less hunched and his head a little more up, Tony decided not to mess up a good day by asking about the trouble at school. The time after that Peter started smiling more and making dumb movie references again, and the time after that he’d gone back to his constant chattering about anything and everything around him. The older man missed this side of his protege so damn much, he couldn’t bring himself to do anything that might bring the mood down. He rationalized this by reminding himself he asked the boy how he was doing every time they saw each other, and the answer was always a genuine-sounding “good.” Tony had proven he was trustworthy, so if anything was going wrong Peter would feel comfortable opening up...right?

The billionaire allowed himself to float by on these reassurances for weeks, but each day that passed without a real conversation, Tony got more nervous. What if Pete was just acting? What if he was missing something? What if he’d gotten things all wrong? It wasn’t until the afternoon his intern came into the lab  _ literally whistling  _ that Tony got up the nerve to broach the subject. Once the pair were settled in tinkering with their various tech projects, he cleared his throat.

“So how’s school?”

“Good,” Peter hummed. 

“Glad to hear it, but I mean as far as your multilayered secret cake?”

“Since when are we going with a cake metaphor?”

Tony rolled his eyes. “It was the only thing I could think of that follows the word ‘multilayered,’ okay?”

The smile in the teen’s voice was audible when he spoke next. “I know, I’m just giving you a hard time. Everything’s going really well right now Mr. Stark.”

“There’s nothing else you wanna tell me?” Tony turned around to look at the kid to find him blushing down at what looked to be the messaging app on his phone. “Like what exactly put that look on your face?”

Peter scrambled to stuff his phone in his pocket. “Nothing,” he mumbled even as his cheeks continued to get redder.

“Okay.” Tony paused. “Oh yeah, what’s your boyfriend’s name again? Rufus?”

“Riley.”

“Aha!” Tony clapped. “So that’s it, you two are dating now!”

The spiderling spluttered random consonants for a moment before stooping his head. “I dunno. I think? We’ve never been on a real, like,  _ date  _ date. But I think so. Yeah,” he smiled

“Well congrats kid. If you ever need advice from a relationship expert, Pepper’s usually available. But if she’s not, I’m here too.”

Peter’s eyes crinkled as his grin deepened. “Thanks man. Now if I take out my phone again, will you let me text in peace?”

Tony chuckled and turned back to his work. “Yeah yeah. So long as you get those thrusters rewired by the time your aunt gets here.”

 

* * *

  
  


Despite how much he cared about the Parker boy, Tony Stark was a busy guy. He had a company to run, a world to save, and a household to maintain. So he was perfectly fine with ending his voyage into teen angst as long as Peter seemed to stay happy, which he was. For two and a half weeks after the ‘boyfriends’ conversation, the businessman didn’t give any thought to what might be going on at Midtown High.

This bliss continued right up until the moment Tony heard a soft, slow knock on his front door. Sundays were reserved for quality time with Pepper, so of course he’d spent the entire day running around making phone calls across the world, using his time on hold to apologize profusely to the love of his life. In fact, he was on his way back to her to say sorry for the thousandth time when he passed the door. If he’d been anywhere else in the house he wouldn’t have heard it, it was that soft. As it was, he paused and strained his ears.

“Fri, is there someone at the door?”

“Yes boss. Peter Parker seems to be here to see you.”

Tony walked forward and swung the door open with every intent of telling the kid off for showing up with no warning text, but his mind stopped short the second he saw him.

Peter was standing in the entryway panting, his chest rising and falling rapidly. If Tony would have looked he could’ve seen the rivulets of sweat rolling down the teen’s neck. But he didn’t look. He was too distracted by the angry red bruising engulfing the boy’s neck and left eye. There was a gash across his forehead that had left a stream of dried blood down the side of his face. Peter’s bottom lip was busted and swollen, and the neckline of his shirt had been torn in several places to reveal more bruises down his collarbone.

It must have taken Tony just a second or two to take this all in, but it felt like years. When he finally met the kid’s eyes, he couldn’t think of anything to say.

“ _ Shit _ .”

Peter sniffed and nodded. “You s-said I could always talk to you, right?”

Tony stepped aside and motioned the boy into the house. Peter limped past in a B-line to the couch, which he dropped into wordlessly. Tony ghosted behind him, hanging up the phone on whoever he'd been on hold for. He was pretty sure it was important, but he couldn't seem to make himself care. He sunk into the armchair across from the sofa and tried to find a way to start.

“I'm not exactly sure where Bruce is right now, but I'm sure I can get him here within the hour to patch you up.”

“No,” Peter replied, his tone flat and emotionless.

“Some of those look pretty nasty, you need to be attended to.”

“I'll do it myself. I don't need anyone else coming to save poor little Parker.”

Tony mouth dropped open. “You know it's not like that, we-”

“I'm still not sure if coming here was a good idea. Please, just grab me a med kit, I'll be fine.”

Tony wanted to continue arguing, but he couldn't risk the kid shutting down and closing himself off. He sighed. “Will you at least let me be in the room? I wanna make sure you wrap everything right.”  _ And that you aren't hiding more injuries _ , he thought, but that didn't need to be added.

Peter shrugged, which the older man decided to take as a yes. He stood and left the room, his easy walk turning into a jog the moment the couch was out of sight. He rushed to grab the kit under the bathroom sink and slowed down again upon returning, trying to look casual. He was relieved that the teen hadn’t bolted in his absence. He handed over the box, which Peter took gingerly.

Tony let enough time pass for the kit to be opened and examined before he spoke. “How did this happen?”

He was met with a small shrug.

“I didn't get an injury alert from Fri, so this didn't happen to Spiderman, it happened to Peter Parker. Do I have that right?”

Another shrug.

The man ran a hand through his hair. “You promised not to lie to me Pete. You said you were  _ safe _ . I believed you when you said you were safe,” he said, whispering the last part to himself more than anything else.

“I am safe. Or, I was,” the teenager had never looked more like a child as he stared down at his open palms. “I don't know how it got to messed up.”

Tony took a breath. This was good, he was talking. “Well, can you tell me what you do know?”

Peter reached up and grabbed the back of his collar, tugging his shirt off over his head. Tony tried his best not to react to the bruising down his chest and around his ribs. The kid cracked an instant cold pack and pressed it gently to his side. Tony was about to ask again when the boy started to whisper his answer in a monotone.

“Me and Riley were starting to hang out more, and we were even talking in school. He was getting more confident and he seemed so much happier, it was really nice.” Peter balanced the ice pack on his shoulder and ripped a hydrogen peroxide wipe from its packet. He started to wipe the dried blood from his forehead and lip. “I thought things might get normal, you know? I didn't want a big coming out party or giant displays of affection, but maybe just, like, not lying to people.”

Tony didn't exactly want to interrupt, but he had to interject. “Underoos, you're opening your cuts back up, stop scrubbing so hard.”

Peter let the wipe drop to his lap. “I was in idiot,” his voice finally cracked.

“No, you aren't. You're a lot of things but that's not one of them.”

“His friends. God, his friends,” he paused to swallow. “Riley kept going on about how they didn't live in the 21 st century with the rest of us. I guess the whole group of them went to the same Sunday school at this crazy religious church or something? I didn't know those were even a thing in New York. His best friend Travis was the one who gave me that black eye awhile ago. And Riley didn’t even say anything to stop him. That’s one of the things that’s been bugging me lately -- his friends give me shit and he never s-stopped them”

Peter stopped and looked at the ceiling as he sucked in a quick breath. A few tears escaped his eyes anyway and Tony felt his heart shatter even further. “What happened Pete?”

“He was getting worried about how the guys noticed he was acting different, 'softer' or something. They were starting to give him crap for it, and I brushed it off. Mr. Stark, he was losing everything he'd ever known and I told him to just find better friends, like it was so easy. If I had, if I talked to him, if I wasn't so  _ stupid  _ and selfish...” his fists were balled so with his knuckles had gone white.

“Whatever happened kid, this wasn't on you. Do you get that?”

The teen bit his lip and shook his head. “You don’t understand.”

“Then help me understand kiddo. Tell me what happened.”

Peter leaned forward and buried his face in his hands. “He had to prove he wasn’t a  _ faggot _ .” he spat the word, “So he showed them he wasn't.”

“Riley did this to you?” 

A sob ripped through the living room and Tony felt as if it physically lifted him up and put him on the couch next to his kid -- because that was the moment the billionaire couldn’t deny it anymore. The Parker boy was his kid, biology or living arrangement be damned.

Peter tipped over until he was curled into Tony’s chest. “His friends too, but mostly R-riley.” 

“Oh Pete,” Tony wrapped his arms around the shaking child. 

“I'm strong enough to fight back, y’know? I’m Spiderman. But I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t even run. He was hurting and I promised Riley I’d never leave him hurting. Right Mr. Stark? If he cared about me, it must have hurt him to do this. Right?” The brunette pulled back from the man’s chest and looked up at him, tears running down his cheeks. “It couldn’t have all been fake, could it?”

Tony felt his stomach fill with a thousand different emotions. Agony, fury, confusion, love, vulnerability. He pushed them all down and cleared his throat. “I think he did buddy. Maybe his fear just outweighed the truth.”

Peter careened back into Tony’s chest and was met with waiting arms. Tony knew they had a lot to take care of. They needed to get his wounds better cared for, they needed to get this group of teenaged bigots to answer for the hate crime they’d just committed, and Tony needed to be sure that Peter wouldn’t go back to the guy that had beat the living shit out of him. But as Tony sat and let the kid ruin his multi-thousand dollar suit with tears, he put that all on the back burner. More than anything else right now, Peter needed to let himself be hurt. So the two just sat there together, giving themselves permission to feel the pain.


	4. Fourth Layer

 

Tony Stark remembered his teenage years as being overwhelming and exhausting at all times, even though he had very little real responsibility. He’d always been impressed with the spiderboy for juggling incredibly difficult school work, decathlon, supporting his aunt, coping with past trauma, and being a superhero all at once. As much as that respect for the kid was already established, it skyrocketed in the weeks after the beating. Peter had let Tony take pictures of all his injuries before his healing factor destroyed the evidence. As it turns out, May didn’t know anything about what was going on, so Peter’d been forced to not just have an “I’m gay” conversation, he had to navigate “I was assaulted for being gay” as his coming out to her. They waited long enough that the bruises would have healed on any normal person before Peter let May and Tony drag him into the principal’s office with print-outs of the injury photos. All the guys involved in beating him up were instantly expelled, and when Peter found this out he’d had his first emotional reaction since he told Tony. That had been a bad day.

Tony was in awe of how the kid did it all while still staying functional. Well, semi-functional. According to May he’d started skipping decathlon practice and his grades had dipped from A’s to B+’s, which was apparently Peter’s version of underachieving. Half the time the teen didn’t show up to their work days together with no explanation or warning. The days he did come to the lab he hardly said a word. Tony had offered May the money to send Peter back to the shrink he went to when his parents -- and later Ben -- had died, but Peter refused. Everyone was worried about him but no one knew what to do.

Not that it seemed to be doing any good, but Tony was trying help by being more present when they were together. He set Friday’s external communication to emergency-only so that no one could call or interrupt them, and he made sure never to schedule anything that would make him arrive late or leave early from their sessions. He’d even taken to giving Happy Wednesday afternoons off and driving to Midtown himself. Of course he was stood up half the time, but he knew it wasn’t personal.

It was shaping up to be another no-show day when Tony jumped at sudden sound of the passenger door swinging open. He saved the email he’d been typing to his drafts before tucking his phone back in his pocket and shifting into drive.

“Only twenty six minutes late getting out here, I’m impressed. Your time management skills are almost as refined as mine,” he tried to shoot the teen an eyebrow raise, but could only see the back of Peter’s head as the boy stared out the window.

He tried again. “Or maybe you were just studying. A little birdie told me that you’re in danger of dropping your 4.0 to a 3.9, which is an atrocity. I don’t wanna have to shell out some enormous donation to get you into the ivy of your dream. I mean, I will, but I’d prefer not to.”

Tony was met with more silence and he could practically feel his chest deflating. He hadn’t been expecting the word-vomiting Peter Parker of a few months ago, but he could almost always get head nods and grunts out of the kid. He waited until he got through the most congested blocks  of Queens before going for a different tactic.

“Hard day? We can skip the lab and get sandwiches instead if you want. If the psycho-babble therapy Pepper’s got me in has taught me anything it’s that sometimes you gotta go easy on yourself when things are rough.” 

This time Tony could only sit through four seconds of unmoving silence before he couldn’t take it anymore. “Pete, can you give me something here? Anything. A nod, eye contact, a ‘fuck you Mr. Stark,’ something,” he took a breath. “Cause I’m going to be honest, you’re kind of scaring me.” The man forced a shallow laugh. “I mean, I could always take the suit away until you agree to talk to me. You seemed pretty peeved the last time I pulled that one.”

Tony registered out of the corner of his eye that the spiderling had turned his head and was now facing him. “Excellent, progress! Now that’s --” the billionaire had glanced over to see Peter’s eyes bloodshot as tears rolled down his face, adding to the sizeable wet spots on the collar of his shirt. “Shit.  _ Shit.  _ I didn’t mean what I said about the suit, I was just trying to joke around. I won’t take it away again, I promise.”

Peter just shook his head. His adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. “ ‘ts not... I don’t care about that.”

As Tony glanced back and forth between the road and his passenger he really wished he’d gotten Happy to chaufer them this time. “Okay. So what’s going on?”

“I can’t.”

“What can’t you do?”

“I just keep thinking and I’m so mad at myself and I just  _ can’t _ , you know?”

Tony didn’t know, but he wasn’t about to say that. “What’re you mad at yourself for?”

Peter’s voice dropped down until it was almost inaudible. “Everything.”

Tony glanced over just in time to see something harden behind the teen’s eyes. “Hey, look at me. Buddy, look at me.”

The two made direct eye contact for what felt like the first time in forever, but before they had time to say anything a blaring car horn snapped their attention back to the road. Tony cursed and swerved back into his lane, missing the oncoming traffic by about a foot. His hands white-knuckled on the wheel, he took a turn into the first parking lot he saw. Only after coming to a complete stop and wrenching the emergency brake up did Tony rub at his eyes and turn to his companion.

“Sorry about that.”

“It’s okay. ‘happens.”

“Now that we’ve had a proper near-death shock, do you think you wanna talk?”

Peter shrugged and stared down at his hands. “What do you wanna talk about?”

“I don’t know, whatever would make you feel better to say.”

“No offense Mr. Stark, but you’re just going to tell me that I’m wrong, and I’m not really in the mood to be interrupted a million times.”

“What if I promise to keep my trap shut and let you go off?”

The boy chuckled without humor. “That’s what Ned and May said too, but they barely let me get a sentence out.”

Tony thought for a moment. “Unless you tell me that you’re planning to commit mass murder within the next half and hour, I swear I won’t interrupt you. No questions, no contradictions, no bullshit. Just you kiddo.”

Peter’s shiny eyes scanned his mentor up and down and Tony could practically feel the incredulousness permeate the air. “And if you mess up?”

“If I make a sound, you can keep my favorite car.” 

“Good luck,” he muttered before taking a deep breath. “So like. Ugh. This is weird to say because you’re not going to believe me. But everything that’s gone down at school lately has been my fault. All those guys getting expelled, the administration giving me the pity look all the time, my friends acting like I’m some breakable little doll. That’s on me. I made the my bed and now I gotta lie in it so I need to stop complaining that it sucks. I had a thousand chances to make things turn out different, but I didn’t.” Peter slid his phone out of his pocket and started to flip it over again and again in his hands. “I shouldn’t have let you and May drag me into the office. I should’ve refused to give the principal any names. Or I could’ve hauled myself home that day instead of going to your place, could’ve told my aunt that the injuries were from patrol.” The phone flipping began to get faster. “And before that! If I hadn’t been an idiot and told Riley to just get better friends, if I had listened to him in the first place instead of pretending like everything was fine, the incident wouldn’t have happened at all. If I hadn’t been nosy and asked my cute lab partner why he broke up with his girlfriend, I wouldn’t have fallen for Riley at all.” Peter abruptly stopped his compulsive hand motions and closed his eyes. He spoke so quietly it almost came out as a whisper. “If I hadn’t decided to be a faggot, my ex-boyfriend wouldn’t be on a plane to military school right now because his mom decided having an expelled son around the house was too shameful.”

True to his word, Tony hadn’t stopped to interrupt once, but keeping silent just about killed him. He’d had no idea that Peter blamed himself, and he never could have guessed it would go this deep. He waited a few seconds for good measure before speaking. “Is there more, or can I say something?”

Peter opened his eyes and looked straight at his mentor. “Go ahead.”

“I’m sorry you have to deal with this titanic mound of bullshit and I’m sorry there’s nothing I can do to fix it. But I’m glad you told me.”

“Isn’t this the part where you tell me everything I said is wrong?”

“Is that what you want me to do?” Tony asked.

“No. That’s what May and Ned and MJ said, but they don’t get it.”

“I mean, I agree with them. This isn’t on you, kid. But if hearing those words did you any good this wouldn’t still be an issue.”

“I guess.”

Tony gave a small, sympathetic smile. “So how did I do? Was telling me really that terrible?”

Peter broke eye contact to look out the window at the various office buildings they were parked next to. “You let me get more than three seconds in, which is more than the others did. And you aren’t yelling at me, so that’s pretty cool.”

“ ‘Pretty cool,’ huh. I’ll take it,” he smirked before pausing a beat. “Am I allowed to ask follow-up questions?”

The teen shrugged. “I guess.”

“Do you really think that you decided to be a … , to be gay? That’s a choice you made?”

“I know it’s not the 60’s, I didn’t wake up one day and pick this. But it’s like,” Peter chewed on his top lip, “people are born gay or straight or whatever, and that’s what they are from the start, right? I didn’t have that. People say stuff like ‘ _ I always knew I was different, _ ’ but that’s not what happened with me. I never felt anything, I never even thought about it. One day Riley just held my hand under the table and I decided not to fight about it. I figured it’d be easier just to go with it.”

A horrifying thought struck Tony. “Pete, were you okay with everything that happened?”

“What? No! I mean yes! I mean,” he grunted and ran a hand through his hair. “It wasn’t like that Mr. Stark, I swear. I liked it. I liked  _ him _ , and I’ve never felt that about a girl before, so I figured that like, okay, sure, I’m gay.  But Riley always talked about having this secret with him all the time. I didn’t have that.”

The billionaire thought very carefully before he spoke next. “There’s a very real possibility that you’re talking to the least qualified person in your life to handle this subject, and I can’t say I’ve ever dealt with anything like this before. But I don’t think there’s any one way to be  _ anything _ . Maybe you didn’t feel like you had something to hide because you didn’t grow up around people going on about ‘Adam and Steve’ or whatever bullshit they’re spouting nowadays. Or maybe it just never occured to you. Or hell, I don’t know. But just cause it was different for you doesn’t mean it’s fake “

“I don’t think that’s right.”

“Why not?”

Peter balled his fists up. “I don’t know! I don’t know, but it’s my fault and no one will believe me about it.”

Jesus, when had Tony become the parent of a troubled teenager? He didn’t remember signing up for this. He just wanted to make things hurt less for the boy. “I don’t think it’s your fault, but I believe you that that’s how it seems to you right now. And I don’t agree with your thought process, but I’m not calling you an idiot either. You’re a smart kid. That’s how I know you’re gonna make it through and figure out that this doesn’t fall on your shoulders.”

Peter rolled his eyes, but Tony could see a flicker of what looked like hope cross his expression. “Whatever Mr. Stark. It’s okay. Thanks for trying to help.”

“Woah, hold on there buddy. I’m not sure we’re done talking about this.”

The boy smirked. “I am.”

Tony almost wanted to laugh. With that sort of pop-up defense mechanism, it was hard to believe that the kid wasn’t actually a Stark. “Fair enough. How you doing?”

“Having the time of my life.”

He chuckled. “Okay, I deserved that one. So what’ve we done today -- we almost got in a car crash, we talked about the origins of sexuality, same old same old. What else do you wanna get done?”

Peter gave a small smile. “Can we just go to Delmar’s for sandwiches and talk about literally anything else?”

Tony agreed, put the car into drive, and started the familiar route to what was honestly a mediocre deli (not that he would ever say that). He let them rest in comfortable silence for about half the ride before speaking again.

“So you said we can talk about anything else?”

“Yup!” 

“Okay, okaay. Have I shown you the color schemes Pepper and I are looking at for the wedding? She can’t decide which one goes best with her dress.”

“Jeeze Mr. Stark, I know I’m gay but I’m not  _ that  _ gay.” Tony snorted violently and Peter beamed.

 

The pair managed to have a relatively normal, light-hearted afternoon -- and they would go on to have several more over the next week. The teen even sent Tony a few memes he didn’t really get, but they still made him smile. The two of them did return to more serious topics, but it was a bit easier than before. It seemed like Peter was out of big confessions for the time being, so they took the time to process what had already been said. Tony admitted to the kid pretty early on that he was way out of his depth, but Pete didn’t seem to care about that. It was only after the lab incident -- Tony had tripped over a misplaced backpack and careened towards the spiderling, and the boy had flashed back to Riley’s fists coming down on him again and again -- that Peter conceded to getting some professional help. Once the therapy sessions started up the bad days seemed to get a little less bad, at least from an outsider’s perspective. 

 

The final bit of proof that the kid was going to pull through came five months and three days after Riley’s expulsion, when Peter showed up unannounced at Tony’s door again. But this time it was with a small robot in his arms and a blonde boy by his side. There was some rushed explanation about how the kids’ robotics competition (since when had Peter joined robotics?) was tomorrow and they  _ needed  _ it to be able to shoot confetti all over their faculty sponsor. Stark Industries had a small, scarcely-stocked lab room without weapons or hero suits that they showed all the tour groups, and Tony laughed as the boys ran down and began making plans on the whiteboard. The inventor sat back and watched as the kids laughed and shouted and all together just acted like teenagers. God, it had been so long since Tony had seen Peter act like a normal fifteen year old. Would Tony tease the hell out of him for the blush the kid sported the entire time he was with the blonde boy? Absolutely. Was he relieved to his core that his pseudo-son seemed to finally be unburdened and having a good time?

  
Well, yes. As long as no one told Pepper he used the word  _ son  _ for Peter, even just to himself. 

**Author's Note:**

> I love comments, constructive criticism, predictions of what you think will happen, anything!


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